[Cryptography] hacked hearing aids ("Code of Silence")

[Henry Baker]

*** spoiler alert ***

In the 2025 British series "Code of Silence", a key plot point is where the main character's hearing aids are hacked so that they become listening devices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Silence_(TV_series)

Having looked into some of the issues surrounding modern Bluetooth and hearing aids, I have concluded that this hack is not only not far-fetched, but is a very real security issue.

However, I'm currently at a loss for suggestions about what to do, because it's difficult enough to get decent SW/firmware on these *very expensive* devices *at all*, much less after adding additional security requirements that will drive their prices into the stratosphere.

Oh, and by the way, I doubt that any of these hearing aids (or their firmware) are built in the U.S., so you can assume that their supply chains are very vulnerable to attack (think exploding Israeli pagers in your ears).

Open source code for open source hearing aid HW would be a good start, but I would imagine that fulfilling that dream would take at least 5 years, so what do we do in the mean time?

[Google Pixel, are you listening ?!?]

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BTW, "Code of Silence" is quite a good show, and the lead actress -- who is terrific -- is actually deaf herself.

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